Sorrow Eating at His heart
by Lady Phenylina
Summary: He'll watch over her, he'll fall in love with her and ultimately she will drive him to dig out his human heart. Sounds like love to me.- NarakuxKagome Mate fic
1. Prologue

**"He'll watch over her, he'll fall in love with her and ultimately she will drive him to dig out his human heart" Sounds like love to me.- NarakuxKagome Mate fic **

**While maybe I should have been working on "If I Should Wake", I've been writing this . . . . and letting that ferment D: well, whatever. I also made some changes to Naraku's appearance, for reasons which may become clearer to you (and me -_-) in the hopefully near future (PS. I might even eventually add Inucest to this fic as I almost always like to pair Naraku and Sesshoumaru, you'll have to make due with Inucest! lol) Enjoy!  
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**_-*-*-P__rologue_-*-*-

Dark like hopeless dreams, a cavern lay open to cricket songs and night chills. Inside this cavern was a man dressed in dark silk, made darker still by the moonless night. He lay slumped against the damp cave wall, cascading rivets of ebony hair embracing his sharp and beautiful demonic face.

He stood shakily on his legs like a newborn and steadied himself against the damp wall of the cave. His breath was heavy as the writhing of a thousand and more youkai spirits commenced within his heart. They were eating him from the inside.

The human was oblivious to them as he stood and walked uneasily towards a stream as it ran nearby.

He dropped onto his knees and looked on his reflection with a lopsided grin. His eyes had become more pronounced, more predatory. Even in the dark night he could see his eyes, attesting to his new demonic senses. He blinked slowly once, then again at the odd color of his eyes: blood red. He had definitely changed, when he let those demons into his body. He looked like a completely different person . . .

As he leaned nearer his bright reflection, the long silk hair let itself be known. He smirked; He looked like some noble or something. The dark silk kimono only served to punctuate this opinion as he ran his hand down the kinky waves and against the smooth fabric. Those demons have good tastes in clothes, he mused.

It was then he noticed something new; when his lips parted in the reflection, there were fangs. Stark white, curled and menacing fangs. Tentatively he touched one and found that there were smaller ones. With a devilish smirk to exhibit his fangs, he made to speak. His voice, when he finally spoke was soft and raspy like spring wind through a budding tree.

"I am . . . Demon?" he asked curiously of the demons eating his heart.

"HALF DEMON. THIS WILL CHANGE, MUST FIND JEWEL - POWER-MUST-" It took almost every once of effort for him to block out the monstrous sound of the demons all speaking at once. He closed his red eyes against the pain.

"No I must find her . . . The woman - My Kikyo!"

"FOOL. SHE HOLDS THE JEWEL AND THE JEWEL IS KEY!" The beasts screamed. "WE WILL EAT YOU FROM THE INSIDE OUT HUMAN, IF YOU DO NOT FIND IT! THEN YOU MAY HAVE HER." Onigumo contemplated this. Then as he opened his fanged mouth to speak, he felt an odd lurch in his heart. A new voice spoke from his mouth that was not his own.

"Kikyo took the jewel to her grave, Onigumo. She is dead." This voice was his own, and yet . . . not. It was raspy and it was animalistic. It was cruel and it was concise. Onigumo felt a chill run up his spine. "She is dead by the hanyou's hands . . ." At these words, Onigumo bristled with anger. He knew the half demon Inuyasha well . . . As the bastard that stole away his Kikyo's heart . . .

"Inuyasha!" Onigumo snarled and the dark voice chuckled. "Who are you? Are you a demon?" Onigumo spoke with his own voice, but he felt the chuckle rise from within that was not his own.

"Yes and no. I am you and I am not. I am demon and I am not. I am Naraku."

"Hell." Onigumo whispered, almost reverent.

"Yes, precisely." "Naraku" whispered back. "Now, find the inu-hanyou. I remember from when I possessed him that he was pinned to a great tree. Go to this tree -" Naraku's voice faded and the demon voices all spoke at once.

"AND YOU WILL FIND THE JEWEL'S LOCATION. THE JEWEL IS KEY. GO TO THE HANYOU, HUMAN ONIGUMO."

When Onigumo finally managed to stumble out of the cave, he wandered mechanically, lead by the demons into the clearing where the "inu-hanyou" lay pinned to the great tree just as he had the day Naraku had tricked him.

"Ah." Naraku breathed. "It has been fifty years since last I have been here and the calm is so overwhelming." Onigumo's eyes widened.

"Fifty years?" He asked in alarm of the demon. He remembered the cave as his home as if it were yesterday! It was only yesterday wasn't it?

"Yes." Naraku whispered as he reverently fingered the sacred arrow jutting out of the hanyou's chest. "It has been fifty years since then. I only just woke you up after all this time. I was told that . . . That . . ." Naraku stopped and Onigumo regained control over his features.

"That, what?" It was a queer feeling, talking to himself and feeling detached from his body, Onigumo noted.

"Nothing- the demons will not tell me anymore than what I need to know. They let me control of the body for the most part and keep to themselves." Onigumo suddenly felt anger rise up, a wave ready to lash across a shore.

"What have you done with my body Naraku?" The demon chuckled.

"Nothing that would have mattered if it were even in perfect condition. Your body was destroyed by fire. The one you reside in is mine. These past fifty years, I have been strengthening it. Adding to it." He was silent for a moment, contemplating whether he should let Onigumo to his business or not. He smiled cruelly. Best let him be done with it. "I might be strong enough now to bend this arrow in the whelp's chest . . ." Naraku tested.

"Ha!" Onigumo snorted. "It is unlikely! A sacred arrow shot by Kikyo can only be destroyed by Kikyo!" Then he was sombre. "Will I get my revenge on Inuyasha?" Onigumo breathed quiet, his voice suddenly delight with malice.

"Oho," Naraku had expected this. Onigumo looked on at the half-demon before him and Naraku could feel the hatred. "Such hatred . . . In time, Onigumo. In time. . . . If you are to do as I say . . . You will have your chance."

"And now," He said to the human inside him. "It is time to find the jewel. Time to find your Kikyo." With that said, Onigumo watched in perverse awe as the demon reached out towards the hanyou as if he were going scrape out his heart. But no, he reached behind the dog and scraped his claws into the tree. As he scraped, Onigumo became aware of an intense burning and a light a thousand times brighter than any fire.

And then there was nothing but shadow.

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**If any of this gets too confusing, it means I haven't read through it enough, so help me out by telling me if it is XD- Pheny**


	2. Chapter 1

**"He'll watch over her, he'll fall in love with her and ultimately she will drive him to dig out his human heart" Sounds like love to me.- NarakuxKagome Mate fic**

**Welp . . . Here is the first chapter XD . . . I think that it feels more like a second part of the prologue to me than anything, but whatever. Read and enjoy! (or not! doesn't matter to me XD)

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_-*-*- Chapter One -*-*-_

It was on the eve of a dark and cold starless night that the shadow first installed himself over the house of Higurashi.

A calm was held over the small household and shrine which lay adjacent to the home. All was peaceful. Inside the house lay a scene of domestic perfection - a soft eyed, bedraggled looking woman cradled an infant in her arms and beside her, stood her husband, looking on with a small smile at his new daughter. Warm light shown through the small window as it looked out into the dark snow covered night.

It was the perfect cruel irony; The scene was a soft, tickling temptation that formed a sharp contrast with the breaking heart that watched it play out.

Where in this house there was the paragon of happiness, outside a figure loomed with only despair and sorrow eating at his heart.

He clutched at his chest and his red eyes glistened with painful happiness.

"She's . . ."

"DISGUSTING." Growled a thousand demons inside him all at once. "HER PURITY, IT IS DISGUSTING SPIDER-HEART."

"- She is young . . . soon to be beautiful." He said to himself softly. This is his beauty, his Kikyo . . . No wild and diluted demons will tell him otherwise. They will not corrupt her in his eyes.

She will grow, she will be beautiful and he will go to her and she'll fall in love with him and all will be well.

This is what he told himself as he returned back to the tree, the one that had sent him here into this distant and bizarre future. One deft leap into the tree and he was situated. He looked out at the new world full of lights, of sounds and of strange intoxicating and mesmerizing scents. It was a near overload for him in his new body. He could hardly take it all in as he sat day by day, season to season and year to year as a shadow in the tree.

He watched her grow lovely each and every day from above as the shadow of the branches of the tree of goushinkinbou.

But, he told himself in that new raspy and cruel voice, it will be worth it - to wait.

Onigumo knew it was worth it already for his lover to be - the pure Kikyo was nothing but a babe at this point in time in this strange land. He would wait for her and ultimately he would take her with his new found strength.

The new voice that spoke to him however told differently in his raspy baritone. It was worth it for a much different reason. The demons who had collided with his heart had given birth to this new raspy voice, (this "Naraku", as he had told Onigumo) kept the resonating truth only with the true spider-heart.

She is the key . . . the key . . . They recited this to Naraku every day as he waited as a mere passenger in his own body, in this strange sorrowful land with his former self stewing with lust inside him. She is the key to your past as she holds the jewel within her. She is the key to your future as she holds the ultimate destruction for your human heart. She will be . . . Your . . .

The demons always stopped reciting the mantra when Onigumo came out to watch his "Kikyo". It became obvious to Naraku that they did not want to let it be known to Onigumo that Naraku was the only one between them with which they preferred to consult.

When Onigumo came out, they were silent and Naraku was forced to be resigned to watch her grow through his human hearts eyes. This made him continually resentful towards the human that resided within him.

It made him grow restless too, when he first heard her true name.

Kagome.

The first time he heard it, it was as if every single one of the demons had fled from him, but he still held their strength and more.

The first time Onigumo heard his Kikyo called a false name, he was confused. It had come from the mouth of the old man. The grandfather.

As he told her a myth of a shadow that hung over the tree of ages, she watched with heavy, innocent eyes.

_"Kagome,"_ He said. _"This tree has been here long before my grandfather's grandfather was even born. It is a tree that transcends time. It blooms and withers at a different pace than others. And it has always watched over our family. But now. . ."_

_"But?"_ The little girl asked with impatient eyes. The old man chuckled.

_"But now there is a dark shadow that looms over it."_ Her eyes widened. The "Shadow" felt a chuckle rise in his throat and then suddenly he stopped.

Her eyes turned to face him at that exact moment. His whole world froze as her big odd blue eyes unknowingly met his. And it was then his human heart began to beat within him wildly.

"What nonsense this fool speaks Naraku. Calling my dearest a false name!" Naraku didn't dare correct him. He was too enraptured watching her as she turned back to her grandfather's story with a new understanding in her eyes.

Naraku knew immediately as the demons writhed wildly that this was Kagome. She was to be his. Kagome belonged to Naraku. The demons all told him so.

Life was good for his Kagome he noted. She was a happy and beautiful child. She loved the color blue, she loved animals and meeting new friends. Everyday there was a smile. Even on the days which left her eyes looking hollow and sad there was a smile. It made Naraku smile in turn.

On festival days when the Higurashi shrine and courtyard was full of visitors, she hopped around and played games in her cutest kimono. She made wishes and placed them on the branches of the goushinkinbou. Naraku smiled at the sweet irony. Her wishes were simple and sweet and they included notes of thanks to the "shadow."

One was written to "Shadow Goushinkinbou" -Thank you shadow spirit, thank you for watching us. I wish that we could be friends.

These were the only instances which Naraku would tolerate her involvement in the shrine's business. Other instances though, he was resigned to watch, furious at himself and hateful towards Onigumo especially; the girl helped her grandfather in red and white miko garb on these such instances.

These were the times in which his human heart would beat the fastest. And Onigumo would become his loudest. It became apparent to Naraku that when Onigumo became his loudest, he took control over a rather large potion of the demons inside of him.

On these instances, Kagome would be plagued with horrible nightmares.

On these instances, Naraku felt himself shudder with pain.

Her eyes would be their most hollow and their most empty when she had these nightmares.

Her eyes . . . They were the most beautiful thing about her. He saw them almost everyday as she looked up towards the shadow he was in the tree. After the nightmares, her eyes would plead with the shadow. Naraku did his damnedest to ignore his human heart's beating as they did.

As the years progressed and Kagome grew more lovelier still, Onigumo's lust for the girl grew and Naraku's disgust for the human heart grew exponentially as well.

The nightmares grew frequent as did the pleading; In her youth she placed offerings beneath the tree of what she thought might appeal to the shadow growing, festering within the branches of the goushinkinbou. A basket of blossoms, a fertilizer stick, a boxed lunch- all sat beneath the tree untouched, molded and withered. None of this would appeal to the evil growing. To the actual shadow that watched over her however, these offerings struck a chord within him. She was so innocent, he filled with joy at these offerings.

The years passed quickly. Kagome was given a brother and her father was taken from the mortal plane. These two events had the most impact on her young life. Of joy and of loss.  
She became the perfect older sister- protective and doting upon young Souta. She also became withdrawn and the happy smiles gradually withered. Naraku made a note of it as her friends came around less and less until she only had the very closest of friends left, their smiles ignorant though nonetheless concerned.

As the smiles became fewer, so too did the offerings, the pleadings. Less and less Naraku gazed upon her eyes and the beating stopped. The nightmares ceased.

Put simply- Kagome grew up. And Naraku watched with brewing lust in his human heart, happiness in his soul and sorrow on his face as she became older and older until . . .

The jewel began to show itself . . . It began to glow from within her. The demons writhed and Onigumo moaned in anticipation. It was time.

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**"goushinkinbou" Is that how it is spelled, or am I getting it all wrong? Either way I like to say this version of the name XD - Pheny**


	3. Chapter 2

**"He'll watch over her, he'll fall in love with her and ultimately she will drive him to dig out his human heart" Sounds like love to me.- NarakuxKagome Mate fic**

** . . . Yeah not much to say here . . . so . . .  
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**Enjoy this stupid fanfic already, or I will poke you with a half cooked frankfurter in a place where it would surely hurt to be poked with a half cooked frankfurter D: Oh jeez.  
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_-*-*-Chapter two-*-*-_

Kagome Higurashi entered the barren shrine courtyard with a twisted grimace. Her eyes weary and her steps angry and concise. Her younger brother followed suit, his timid face staring intently at the arrow-less quiver and bow on her back.

"Y-you joined the archery club, Kagome?" Souta asked tentatively, wary of his sisters deadly demeanor. Kagome laughed quickly.

"Yeah," She said softly as she peeked back at the ten year old. "I'm officially a high-schooler now and I thought, why not; it might be fun." Souta cocked his head at his sister watching as her face slipped from a smile into a sad little tired face. She plopped down on the bench by the door to their little house. Souta quickly sat down as well and peered on curiously at her as she leaned into the quiver and yellow backpack against the house.

"What happened?" Kagome turned to him with a weary look. "I mean besides joining the archery club." She sighed.

Staring wistfully on at the goushinkinbou she answered him. "I know why Hojo's been ignoring me all summer." The old tree seemed to wave at her and she smiled despite her story. "Ayumi and him were going out behind my back. Some boyfriend I have. Heh, some friends. I never really liked him anyway." The tree stood still suddenly and Kagome turned to look at the ground. "Souta, I want you to wait before you start dating. Wait until you find the right guy." Souta turned completely red and bashfully looked away.

Kagome laughed with him as he realized what she said and pushed her playfully. "Hey!"

The siblings sat silent for a couple more seconds, contemplating matters of the heart and loss with smiles on their faces.

"When do momma and gramps get home again?"

" . . ."

"Sis?"

"Souta, stay here," The girl started deadly serious. "I think there's something in the well house."

"Wait sis!" Souta timidly stayed despite protest, glued to the seat and frightened by the quick change in her demeanor.

Kagome tentatively reached out for the door and slowly slid it open. Inside, the well house was dark, and silent. Definitely not calm however; it was anything but calming in the presence of the shadowy well house, and Kagome felt it.

"Kagome?" Souta called in the distance. Kagome frowned at the shadow.

"There's nothing here, Souta, I'm ok." She lied, still frowning. As she turned her back to the open shadows she called out to Souta. The shadow stirred from it's slumber and rose. "Yeah, momma and gramps come home at around three forty."

Kagome began to walk back from the well house, not at all noticing the demon centipede rising from the doorway, a woman's torso on it's grotesque shining body. with hundreds of hairy spikes as legs. The woman on top of the monster smiled cruelly and reached out to grab the girl. One of her six arms reached around to cup her mouth before she could scream, and the other five constricted her as she squirmed.

Kagome was aware of darkness looming overhead, the smell of rancid flesh in her nose and a harsh voice in her ear as her body was restrained.

"You have it girl, I can feel it under your flesh." Kagome wanted to puke, but couldn't bring herself to as the rotting flesh smell got closer and a tongue licked up the side of her neck. She screamed under the hand and made to bite it, yet it was no use. The centipede woman's hold was too strong.

Kagome couldn't see her assailant in the dark, but the smell and the voice all pointed to something completely inhuman; Also, the feeling of a more than the human number of two arms around her torso.

As the darkness pulled itself around her, a drop of her stomach indicating the thing holding her had jumped, tears stung her eyes and her body wracked with shivers.

"Shush, shush sweet thing. I bet that you will taste divine!" The thing cackled.

As Kagome felt the darkness take her, the creature holding her screamed and shook violently. A vicious heat warmed her back as she fell, landing in soft and dewy grass.

"Kagome!" She heard someone call; someone familiar and a stranger all at once. It was someone with a raspy voice, someone from whom Kagome felt had love for her though the tone alone. The last thought going through her head as she fell to the darkness was that the shadow that she had wanted so badly to be friends with in her youth was now her savior.

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It was unprecedented. A demon had escaped from his body. The first to do such a thing ever, and it was also a rather weak one-Madame Centipede.

He _had_ been busy watching with great intent as he lead Kagome straight to him- to the well house. He was finally going to take her back to his time through the power of the jewel he could feel pulsating and glowing in her every move and smile.

He was going to extract from her_ gently_, the jewel. He was going to have it assimilate with his body, absorb its power, silence the insufferable demons and eventually - remove his human heart, becoming fully demon. All so that (now he noted wryly) he could better protect her.

He had watched helplessly as the bitch erupted from his shadow-guise and captured her, dragging her down the well where he supposed, the centipede thought smelled the most familiar.

How in the seven hells the bitch managed to escape from his body, was beyond him. What wasn't beyond him however, was the knowledge that he couldn't appear before any human at the current time.

The humans of this place had already too many shadows in their hearts and in their minds for him to be able to be seen as anything _but_ a shadow. He cursed himself that he had let Kagome become on of these people.

So being invisible as he was to the eyes of these human, trailed the monster as she took off with his Kagome down the well. He could feel himself become more corporeal as the pure sunlight of the sengouku-jidai stung his body. It had been long since the shadow had relented and sunlight had touched his true flesh. he relished the feeling of it on his skin, slicing away at the centipede woman with his miasma.

He felt a thrill as he listened to the screams . . . Oh how he had missed this. He would quickly get used to appearing as the nightmare in a human's eye once again. Easy. He would have to make sure he would be careful too . . . The thrill died down as he thought of how _she_ might see him in his overzealous killing sprees and his mad trickery of humans.

_Oh well,_ he sighed to himself as he flung away the blood of the centipede woman,_ we will have to change that. I will see to it that she sees only . . . Well . . . My intent for her.  
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He turned to Kagome, grateful that the idiot Onigumo was still sleeping. He felt his lips rise over his fangs and curl; she was too beautiful.

A halo of glossy black hair surrounded her prone form on the forest floor. As he approached her, he snorted at her attire. The small skimpy green kimono - her school uniform- was up around her hips, her legs hanging out and tangled. He knelt down, brushing the skirt back over her hips and smiling, serenely. He would buy her a kimono to accentuate her beauty and to hide it from undeserving eyes. _He would take care of her . . ._

His smile did not last. _How can I possibly protect her and care for her when a part of me . . . Takes her for some dead wench?_

This was not Kikyo, this was Kagome; This was _his_ Kagome. Her resemblance to the dead priestess was uncanny, but her beauty was something all together different. Something beautiful and naive and cheerful regardless of anything. She was something that Kikyo was not- alive. Kikyo's beauty, Naraku could describe in a handful of words. Kagome's beauty left him speechless.

He contemplated this while watching the rise and fall of her slender chest absently.

What would happen when she woke up and he revealed himself? Would she scream? Run? _Die of fright?_ Would Onigumo awaken?

Noticing the quiver and bow attached to her back finally, he had an idea.

"I will give her one arrow, to assure her." he said to himself softly, conjuring the arrow in one hand and placing beside her fallen bow. _I'll let her decide what her response shall be._

With grim satisfaction, he backed up several yards and watched her from the shadow of the goushinkinbou, hiding both himself and the inu-hanyou attached to said tree of ages.

And then, Naraku waited. He was used to waiting by now.

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**If you've read my silly oneshot, "Over" you'll notice some similarities between Inuyasha and Naraku's thinking about Kagome . . . for some reason I felt it was a good way of thinking instead of my usual: "Kagome is an annoying, whigny little girl and Kikyo is obnoxious also . . . I'll make all the men gay!" -** Pheny


	4. Chapter 3

**I win! Pierdes el juego! (you lose the game D:) Now that that's over with, here's another dumb chapter of this stupid fanfic D: *huffhuffhuff* ( a long chapter - over 2k words XD)**  
**Oh yeah, don't think i mentioned this before: i don't own inuyasha. I am not rumiko takahashi = sad D':**

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_-*-*-Chapter Three -*-*-_

As Kagome woke up, she became aware that her room was rather drafty and noises like bird's crying, came from her normally harsh clock. She wiggled around slightly, testing her sleep-aches and yawning. For some reason she felt oddly refreshed. Grasping for the covers, she only got a handful of - grass?

When she finally opened her eyes, she groaned. She was outside. On a patch of grass. Underneath what was undoubtedly the very tree that sat in her family's yard. She looked around for the house, the shrine, the well house - something, anything really. She saw only blue skies and trees; A whole lot of them.

_This is . . . new . . . I remember being at home with Souta and now . . ._ "Where the hell am I?" She asked the open misty clearing. No one answered. She was all alone.

Contrary to the girl's opinion, she wasn't really completely alone. High above her in a favored branch of the goushinkinbou, Naraku watched her carefully. He crouched like a cat upon the branch, his hair dangling around his face as he scrutinized her every move from his perch. From his position in the tree, (i.e directly above her) Naraku could see the top of her glossy haired head as she looked around, afraid. He could smell her fear rise through the wisps of mist and he shivered.

Invisible also to her, was Inuyasha. Still attached to the tree, the Inu-hanyou was fastened tight by the enchanted arrow of Kikyo's own making and by the vines that had grown wildly around him in the past fifty years. The vines shivered their way through his silver-white hair and constricted his body, this way and that. Where Kagome sat against the tree, was also where Inuyasha lay trapped against the tree, his feet mere inches from her head. For now, the mutt was invisible. and for the foreseeable future, asleep. So long as Kagome didn't accidentally release the idiot somehow, before he managed to introduce himself. . .

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"Hello?" Kagome's voice rang out in the disturbing stillness of the clearing. She got no reply from the clearing, yet again. "Is there anyone there? At all?" She called out further. Getting no more reply other then birdsong, wind and her own echo she banged her head semi-gently back into the sharp bark of the tree. "I feel stupid. There's no one here, kagome! Why would there be anyone . . ." She grumbled. "Look at me, talking to myself. I don't even know where the hell I am . . ."

In her slump she noticed something she had not before when she had woken. Beside her was a fine dark wooden arrow. The arrow had a sharp silver tip and white feathers. Numbly, she took it into her hand and inspected it. Where had it come from? She looked up quickly at the rushing of a bush nearby and tensed. This wasn't her arrow, so who's was it?

She lent her head back against the old bark and hissed a weary sigh. "I must be dreaming. I'll wake up and find-"

"Hoho, little mouse." A bestial voice ripped through the clearing. With a start, Kagome jerked her head back to the bushes. Sparks of fear and a rush of adrenaline came to her at what she saw. She stood up quickly, clutching the arrow and her bow tightly; A wolf large as a lion with dirty white fur stepped out of the brush and stalked forward, hackles raised. Upon seeing the weapon on her arm, the wolf growled in what Kagome could only guess was a harsh laugh.

"You will be my prey today; you won't be able to load that bow in the time it will take to kill you!" The wolf grinned, rows of yellowed, gritty fangs glinting at her. Hands shaking, Kagome lifted the bow and arrow and cocked it back as best she could. The wolf "laughed" again.

"Well?" She tested. "C-come and kill me then." She offered. The wolf stalked forward a little more with it's head lowered.

"Runt. Drop the weapon. I will have the jewel. I always get my prey." The wolf growled lowly.

"I'd rather not, t-thank you." She held the bow before her boldly as the animal crouched as if to attack. Instinctively Kagome shut her eyes at the growl that leapt from the creature. However, the next thing she knew, that growl become something more of a whimper as a whoosh of air rushed past her. Kagome's eyes fluttered open and she lent against the tree with the power of the wind.

The wolf was on the ground, the grass around it soaking in red, steam rising from the creature's wet fur. On it's side lay a great dark red gash that looked as if it had been burned instantaneously. Kagome peeled her eyes away from the retched sight to stare at the new comer looming over the wolf. Standing above the now piteous looking creature was a figure draped entirely in white fur. It had to be a man, she told her self. But what kind of man could do - _that_ to something so big? Kagome didn't know whether or not she wanted to find out. She held the bow up again, her face blank as best as she could manage.

The man in the fur looked up, his head covered almost entirely in what could only be the skull of a baboon. Kagome would've laughed had she not been so confused and frazzled in her entire life. The man was wearing a monkey head. On him at that moment however, the look was pretty damn intimidating. Especially when the white hands that came from underneath the pelt were large, blood-soaked and had what looked like claws. Kagome paused mid-shudder, but chastised herself for her stupidity.

"Don't come any closer!" She called, managing to speak without a quiver in her voice. The fur seemed to shiver slightly; the man was laughing!

_"Oh Kikyo!"_ Definitely a man. "How vivacious you are! Just as I remember!" The voice was eerily familiar. It felt as if she had heard it before, as in a dream. Or in a nightmare?

"Oh Kikyo," He called her again, holding out his blood soaked hand, as if to grab for her. "You are just as I remembered, beautiful and pure . . ."

"Quiet!" In an instant, the man stopped laughing and shaking. Kagome was confused. The voice that called for silence came from the man. But it didn't seem to be directed at her.

He held up his hands and murmured something angrily. Kagome only caught the word -"Onigumo"-whoever that was. Kagome suddenly felt more wary than she had been, especially as the man began to approach with his dangerous step.

"I will not have you interfere, wretch!" The man growled as he neared her. She held the bow higher, her eyesight lining up with the shaft.

"Get back!" She screamed angrily. In an instant the arrow was released and in another, it was buried to the fletch in the middle of the man's chest. She exhaled sharply and exclaimed a little "Oh," as if she couldn't believe what she had done.

Expecting for the man to keel over, she crumpled down again against the bark again and began to shake with fear and angry sobs.

The man in the pelt however, stood unwavering and looming before her shivering form, still arguing with himself . . .

* * *

_"It is Kikyo!"_ cried Onigumo from within. _"My Kikyo, so beautiful, her aim ever sharp!"_ The growl started from deep within as the human heart exclaimed in perverse delight. It reverberated and subsequently shut up the foolish human heart. It however had the opposite effect on the quivering, obviously violently angry human girl before him. She winced and stumbled backward. From underneath the pelt, Naraku sighed.

The bow loosely held in front of her was arrow-free and the quiver beside her was too, arrow-less. As she scooted farther away, her back hit tree and she was against it huddled on the ground and shaking. The voice came again.

"Look how she is shaking in anticipation of me! I should take her now . . ."

The voice died down as Naraku closed his eyes with all force possible to drown out the voice - to erase the image of the beautiful dead priestess in her uniform, arching with desire - the falsity now burned into his mind. He reached to his heart where her arrow was buried. The arrow hit its mark - his heart or rather, the place where his heart should be. He reached for it, snapped the arrow in two and dissolved it in miasma.

"Girl!" He growled, put off mainly by Onigumo; her angry tear stained face looked up at him. "Your name, what is it?" He knew already of course the name of the angel staring up at him.

_Kagome, Kagome, Kagome, Do not fear me - why are you angry? Kagome I- Kikyo how lovely you have become . . . How I wish you would wrap your legs about my waist and scream in wanton . . . _His thoughts were as frantic as hers in that moment. Where he was caught between his power struggle with Onigumo, Kagome was left to shake and look at him in angry wonder, phased by his voice.

The question didn't phase her, but his tone did. She got a vague feeling of familiarity from it, like as if he was an old friend and not some crazy fur-wearing stranger who seemed to have major split personality issues. She pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes boldly.

"I am Higurashi, Kagome. And I know who you are." She stated carefully.

"You do?" He asked, his tone condescending and breaking out in raspy, brazen chuckles.

The response that came from beneath the white pelt startled her. Oddly enough though, she didn't feel like she was being mocked. The raspy and cruel voice, when it came, was somehow more calming to her than the frantic one that spoke of "Kikyo".

"Yes. You're the demon that lives over the Goushinkinbou. The shadow my grandfather told me about." Her heart skipped a beat at this new revelation of hers. "You were w-watching me, weren't you?"

He chuckled again and Kagome felt her ears strain to hear more of the harsh sound. It was a pleasing, mesmerizing sound.

"Indeed I was, girl." Her eyes wide and defiant, she watched him with still intent.

"You're also the one who attacked me, aren't you?" She all but growled; Naraku was amused. "My grandfather is going to exterminate you demon!" Naraku laughed heavily and pulled the fur hood from his face.

"Well, I wish your grandfather good luck then Kagome-chan! I am a rather slippery demon."

Kagome winced at the sight of the beautiful face that met hers, the little -chan endearment sliding right off her. It was his face that startled her instead; His face was all angles and hard piercing crimson eyes. He leered out at her from underneath a kinky wall of black silky hair.

"Who are you?" She whispered boldly. The crimson eyes narrowed at her, amused. "_What_ are you?" She asked again, suddenly timid. Naraku approached her slowly, letting the fur slide off of his body, revealing the purple silk underneath. The blush crawling across her face was a refreshing, relieving sight, Naraku decided. "_Really_, I mean. Why would you watch over me?"

His eyes narrowed at her at the last statement. What could the girl possibly mean by this? Hundreds of beautiful blinding smiles crossed his thinking; what reason could she have for such self doubt? He berated his idiocy then, he had watched this young woman grow and become hardened, her outer beauty belying the broken, well guarded girl underneath; Trust Kagome, he thought wryly, to doubt herself- even when the smell of fear swallows her and she faces possible danger.

_What a stupid girl . . ._

Kagome for a second saw something off, between feeling slightly angry, frightened and frazzled out of her wits; Kagome thought she saw a slimmer of disapproval in the stranger's eyes. It was gone in an instant. Kagome only felt anger at herself for getting herself backed into a tree then, oddly enough.

He stood directly over her for a minute as her her back almost perfectly assimilated into the bark of the tree of ages, her hands shaking slightly. He grinned.

"I am Naraku." He all but cooed, the grin turning into a full fledged, fang bearing smile. _"And you are mine."_

* * *

**Anyone doing nanowrimo? I'm going to attempt it, so a lot of things will be ignored (as per usual anyhow . . .)until I give up on it like everything else D: jkjk**


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